Most companies are experimenting with artificial intelligence. They’re trying to figure out how to make it useful across the business, especially when employees are unsure where to begin.

Velia Carboni, chief information officer of SharkNinja, knows that giving people access to a new tool doesn’t answer that question on its own. SharkNinja launched 200 AI pilots and opened its large language model tools to employees. Both moves got people learning. She talked about this initiative during a presentation earlier this month at Total Retail Tech. (Women in Retail Leadership Circle is the sister brand of Total Retail.)

Carboni and her colleagues wanted more of the company involved in solving the problems that mattered most. So they made room for it. SharkNinja’s leaders identified 20 persistent business challenges and gave employees a week away from their usual work to tackle them. Teams could also choose a smaller problem of their own.

The results weren’t a neat list of 20 solutions. As teams got into the work, they found gaps in their data and dependencies they hadn’t seen before. The 20 challenges narrowed to eight, then five larger priorities, including consumer insights and supply chain questions tied to SharkNinja’s rapid growth. Carboni described that narrowing as progress: the company learned which ideas were ready to be pursued and which needed more groundwork.

There’s a useful leadership lesson in that response. It’s easy to ask teams to experiment, then expect every experiment to succeed. Carboni’s approach gives people permission to learn and adjust. Her teams work in two-week iterations so they can see what’s creating value, identify what’s blocking them, and change course if necessary.

Carboni also spoke candidly about the fear that can come with AI. She doesn’t claim to have all the answers, and she doesn’t expect her employees to, either. For leaders, showing curiosity and helping people build confidence may be what turns access to AI into broader participation.

A companywide hackathon week may not work for every organization. But the question behind SharkNinja’s approach is one any leader can ask: What problem would your team make progress on if you gave them the time, the right people, and space to figure it out?